Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) To cruise or not ?

Dave I think you said it just right. The enforced joviality of mass tourism is not for me.

My Mums old neighbour lost his wife shortly after he retired, told his son that he was selling up and he'd calculated that he had enough funds to remain at sea on cruises until he was 88 and after that he said the council can look after him! Mum gets a postcode now and then

Sums it up really. I found it a Marmite experience. Those who love to cruise would bore you to death with previous cruises etc. I guess someone might say that about Morgan owners.

Now that I could be tempted into as I have discovered doing a little crewing down here on a friends Hallberg Rassy on occasions that provided I'm doing something I don't yack and of course you don't get the mass humanity boring you to tears either or the ordeal by food.

p.s. I have him thinking of getting a Morgan too so a bonus, he's an ex grey funnel shipwright and good guy.

There was a similar person on the QE2. An elderly (80+ when I met her) lady who’s husband had died ( I think whilst on the ship). She had an arrangement with Cunard to stay on board. She basically travelled the world in a 5 star care home, visiting friends and relatives round the world. She did have to spend a minimum time off the ship to maintain citizenship. Working on the basis of £80-100 per day for a normal cruise that seemed a good deal for that level of accommodation, food, entertainment, travel, service.

Having served in the Royal Navy, I was fortunate enough (In those days) to visit many different countries on the various ships I was appointed to. On leaving after 27 years, my wife suggested a cruise and I was not particularly enthused!!!
However, I new my place and agreed on a 17 day cruise of the Caribbean; what a blast, lots of different islands, plenty to do, abseiling, kayaking, diving, reef snorkelling, cultural tours etc etc. In the evening a choice of different restaurants, Casino, Cinema, Theatre (Tribute Acts) and it is now our preferred form of holidaying.
We have done the Caribbean several times, the Med and South China Seas. Once our family dog (Dylan the Portuguese Water Dog) allows us, the next one will be booked.
John
----------------------------------------------------
2011 Plus 4 (Marty)

We had over 35 cruises before we stopped because of mobility issues. Must admit we did see the changes over the 25 years involved. No easy or polite way to say this, and I am from the back to backs in Birmingham so hope not a snob, but we knew it was enough for us once the ‘great unwashed’ started to come aboard in droves. Easily identified as the ‘uniform’ was a football shirt (two sizes too small) tattoos, flip flops and unshaven. That was just the women.

You never saw them in the restaurant at dinner partly because we suspected they didn’t have any clothes that could even be classed as smart casual let alone formal dining wear for the formal nights. We were also convinced they prefer the buffet style dining where they could pile their plates as high as they wanted and get back to the bars without missing any drinking time.

We mainly cruised with Princess Cruises which have an option to pay a supplement to go to an area they called the sanctuary the price was not cheap and the added advantage was it kept the great unwashed well away so you rarely saw them. Our favourite days were port days where after we’d been to the Med so many times we tended to stay on board and have the ship and the peace and quiet to ourselves.

After a few years you progress through the loyalty programme where extras were unlocked like enormous discounts for booking a suite which opened up separate dining areas and separate menus that they don’t publicise and that transform things for us, very nice to leave your stateroom go onto your balcony and have a Jacuzzi there solely for your own use and be treated to very fine dining. I like Indian food a lot and most ships have a themed restaurant, Atul Kochhar was onboard himself on one cruise and came and joined us at our table for a glass of wine he did this to every table and was the consummate host and a very nice chap.

On sea days I attended lectures from the likes of Richard Noble and Mike Gatting and these were fascinating and all in all we had a wonderful time but all these things come to an end we never went on the big excursions where they invaded towns for example waited until we had an overnight in Venice and walked in ourselves and found a restaurant and walked the streets afterwards.

Not for everyone of course but I don’t regret a single day and as someone else mentioned you would struggle to get there the same level of accommodation for the cost per night per person in the UK let alone the food and entertainment.

BR
Colin

The introduction of ‘all you can drink’ packages means that some overdo it.

Totally agree, that was the start of the end for us, I enjoy a drink don’t get me wrong but it ‘introduced’ a different sort of passenger. I heard more than one stating how proud they were to be drinking more than the daily fee for the drinks package..... not helped by cruise lines offering free packages in order to sell less attractive cabins!

BR
Colin

My one experience of cruising is spending the night at Gatwick to get an email in the morning to inform me that the cruise was cancelled and then waiting 2 months for a refund with really poor communication.

Maybe we will try it again once things are more normal